


If You Dare

by neverlandever



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Humor, Childhood Trauma, F/F, Femslash, First Love, Friends to Lovers, Innocent at first, Major Character Injury, Minor Character Death, sex with feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:54:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26064553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverlandever/pseuds/neverlandever
Summary: I’ve always wanted to write something about Kassandra’s early days in Kephallopnia, the side mission Old Flames Burn Brighter has given me some idea, so here it is.Chapter 8. Arion
Relationships: Anais/Kassandra (Assassin's Creed), Daphnae/Kassandra (Assassin's Creed), Kassandra/Kyra (Assassin's Creed)
Comments: 54
Kudos: 109





	1. Ikaros

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first Kassandra fic, and was originally written in Chinese, I translated every chapter myself, and also posted the Chinese version, plan to add few more chapters in both languages, I would really love to hear your opinions! :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mini Kassandra was a ladies’ woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Innocent at first, I will change the tag when necessary.

Kassandra didn't like Anais at all.

Three years had passed since Markos picked her up from the beach. Sparta and that night's memories had become blurred. Kassandra thought she had already forgotten that she once had a family, with parents who often looked at her proudly, and a brother who was too young to speak but always giggled at her.

Now she only had Markos, The misshaped man whose face was always glossy, he gave her a shelter and the food in her stomach, and she had to do something for him in return- sneaks into a slave owner's bedroom rummaging for an ancestral ring, or attracts the attention of a well-dressed man in the street, then picking his pocket for any Drachmae. And there were also Kassandra's favorite tasks, go and find the wives of the blacksmiths, stonemasons and shoemakers, pretending to be pathetic, in order to make Markos debts extended for another ten days without interest, and yes, Kassandra was quite good at pleasing women, though she's barely ten years old. 

The wives of blacksmiths, stonemasons and shoemakers would fondly rub her head, pinch her face, and scratch the tip of her nose when they saw her. At the same time, they pity her, an orphan who refused to talk about her parents, and scold Markos, who sent a child to deal with his dirty laundries. Yet every time, Kassandra could always help Markos achieve his goal, and when she’s lucky enough, she could also leave with a loaf of bread or a few slices of bacon that those wives had given her. But she never told Markos about this, as she always ate them on the way back. She was always hungry as she climbing and running around, Markos’food was never enough. Moreover, she also had a little friend who was often as hungry as she was.

“Ikaros!” Kassandra looked up at the small dot hovering in the distance, yelled, and whistled. The dot quickly grew in to larger shadow, with a whirlwind blowing the dust from the ground. 

Kassandra stretched out her left arm, and after several painful lessons, Kassandra had learned. She wrapped two layers thick strips of cloth around her forearm, waiting for Ikaros's claws to grip. Recently, Ikaros seemed begin to learn how to take off and land gently. However, as he grew bigger, the strength of his wings flapping was also getting stronger, this time, Kassandra was pushed back several steps by inertia, when Ikaros finally folded his wings and stood firmly on her arm.

"Bad boy!" Kassandra pretended to blame, while Ikaros turned his head in disapproval and chirped twice.

“Did you have lunch? A mouse or a sparrow? " Kassandra asked him, taking a piece of bacon from her waist pouch. Ikaros reached over and snapping it from her fingers with his beak, nodding his head and jumping.

"Kassandra, can I play with Ikaros?"

A timid voice came from behind.

Kassandra looked back impatiently. It was really annoying. Every time, she appeared behind her suddenly as if she was emerging from the ground. This even made Kassandra little shameful, as she always thought herself good at hiding her trace.

"Anais, I told you, No, ikarlos is very fierce. He doesn’t listen to anyone else except me." "and," she said in a deliberately accentuated voice, "I said many times already. Don't follow me. I have a lot of things to do every day. You'd better go and find those girls and play with dolls."

Anais was standing in front of her, she bowed her head shyly and disappointed. "Kassandra, I..."

Kassandra knew that Anais was the youngest daughter of a fisherman lived near the beach. She had three brothers, and they were all old enough to go fishing with their father. Anais and Kassandra were the same age, with light brown hair, drooping gaze and a timid look, she was one head shorter than Kassandra, and almost looked undernourished.

"I'm not going to be friends with you. I don't make friends with anyone. I have Ikaros." As Anais refused to leave, Kassandra said grimly, then she immediately realized that she was not angry with Anais, but angry with the fact that Ikaros was indeed her only friend in Kephallopnia.

All the children in Kephallopnia regarded her as a monster. They didn’t know where she came from, no one knew her parents, she never said anything herself, and she just did some sneaking things for Markos who took her in. All the children here called her a thief, although no one ever caught her. She also kept an eagle like a pet. She talked to the eagle every day. She was wearing a broken spear in her waist, like a mithios walking with a sword. These children also said that she was a bastard of Markos, with a prostitute. There was a more vicious rumor, which told that she was a child of slaves, and bought by Markos to simply marry off when she come to age, and to give him more bastards.

These rumors were always hateful, made Kassandra's teeth clenched tight. What even more vicious was that they liked to say it out loud when they saw Kassandra coming, and then laughing and exchanging looks when she got close. Kassandra had no friends in kephallopnia, and she didn't want any friends, except Ikaros. These children were all shallow, vulgar and full of malice. They were living humbly and viciously in kephallopnia, a small barren corner forgotten by the entire Greece. This Anais was no different, although Kassandra had never seen Anais laughed at her with other children, but her efforts to get close to her could till be a trick, she would not be fooled by it.

"Ikaros, let's go." Kassandra decided not to speak to Anais any more, so she turned her head and walked away. Ikaros has just swallowed the last small piece of bacon, jumping up from her wrist with satisfaction, and opening his wings ready to fly.

"Thief! Stop !”  
Ikaros screamed, as a boy suddenly appeared in front of her, half a head taller than Kassandra.

"Did you steal my grandmother's ring?"

Kassandra was stunned. She didn’t know the child, but from his words, he might be the son of the slave owner who she had paid a secret visit last week, but maybe he wasn’t, just bluffing.

In any case, Kassandra didn’t want to talk to him, so she turned around and tried to move on.

"Don't run away, don't you dare!”The child grabbed Kassandra's clothes from the back of her neck in a rush, then Ikaros screamed and dived from the air to peck his hand.

"This stupid bird!”The boy gave a strange cry and released his hand in pain, a small bleeding hole appeared on the back of the hand. He shook his hand, immediately bent down to pick up a stone from the ground, then threw it at Ikaros. "Die, stupid bird!"

“No！” Kassandra reached out to stop the child, but it was too late. The stone hit Ikaros' left wing joint. He screamed, trying to spread his wings and fly away, but had lost his balance, circling around at the same height several times.

"Going to flee so quickly?" When Kassandra turned his head, the boy threw another stone. Kasandra stepped up and pressed him to the ground, while the same time, the stone caught Ikaros in the middle of the right wing, several plumes were felling off, Ikaros flapped his wings with an effort, but could not fly any more. He just landed slowly into a bush 30 steps away.

"Malaka!" Kassandra felt the blood gushing up her head. This piece of shit had just broken Ikaros' wings, and Ikaros might never fly again. Almost without thinking, she pulled out the broken spear and thrusted it into the outstretched right hand of the boy, yelled, "You’ll pay for what you did to Ikaros!"

The boy made a pig like cry, squirming his body in pain. The broken spear had pierced his palm and sticked to the ground, "Help！The bastard is going to kill me!"

Kassandra pulled out the broken spear out with a force, and the boy screamed again. Looking at the bush, Kassandra's heart tightened again, "Ikaros!" She left the howling boy on the ground and ran to the bush. As soon as she got up and took a few steps, she felt something hit the back of the her head heavily. Her eyes turned black and she fell forward.

"Kill her! This bastard is a monster!" The boy on the ground finally struggled up and yelled at Kassandra's back.

Kassandra touched the back of her head and immediately felt her hand were covered with warm and thick blood. Before she could stand up, crackling sound of footsteps came behind her. Then her feet left the ground as she was grabbed by the neck and lifted up.

"Brother, this is a fucking monster!" The boy crawled forward, holding up his bloody hand. "She did this, She ran her fucking spear through my hand!"

With one bang, Kassandra was thrown forcibly to the ground. She landed on the graveled path five or six steps away with her bare knees and elbows, blood were seeping to the ground instantly. She crawled over and reached out to grab the broken spear, but one foot suddenly stepped hard on her outstretched hand. Her body trembled painfully. She looked up and saw the person who was stepping on her hand: a tall boy looked fifteen or sixteen years old, four others boys of the same age was standing behind him. One or two of their faces seemed familiar.

Before she had time to think, a kick violently landed on her lower chest, made she fell back three more steps away. She coughed hard and felt her chest almost exploded in pain, for a moment she forgot how to breathe, a salty and metallic smell rose to her throat. Then a blow hit the bridge of her nose, blood immediately covered half of her face. Then another foot kicked her side, another fist hit her back, before the blows and kicks landed on her like hailstones. Kassandra curled up on the ground and buried her head in her arms. Everywhere hurt like mad, she could hardly feel where they hit on her body, only her ears could hear the dull sound of of blows and kicks.

It felt like eternity.

"Stop!" suddenly a sharp voice called out, and the blows seemed to slow down.

"Stop it! You are killing her!" The sharp voice raised a few decibels, accompanied by few barking from a dog.

"I think that’s it, boss. It will be unpleasant to kill her. The old malaka Markos is wicked. They say this is his little bastard."

"Do you hear me, little bastard? Let me see you again I will beat you to death with no mercy, and, it’s not that old malaka who saved you, it’s this little girl. " "All right, Orestes, stop crying and we will get a healer to see your hand." "Let's go!"

The surrounding was quiet all of a sudden. "Kassandra!" the high pitched voice came closer. Kassandra tried to opened the eyes on her swollen face and could only see two bare feet in front of her. Then a big brown dog came up and snorted close to her face.

There were few weak chirps, and muffled sound of flapping wings, "Ikaros." she finally blurted out a word subconsciously, and the world fell into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the comments, kudos and hits! Chapter 2 is on the way;)


	2. Anais

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Kassandra & Anais childhood. More original characters, I searched Greek Names for Boys and Girls and picked whatever appeals to me~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This human & machine translation cooperating work goes to chapter 2! Thank you for all your kindly support, particularly from my Hedonists friends!

Kassantra felt a drop of cold liquid on her face, and then more wet coldness on her neck, arms and ankles, ran down her neck to her collarbone, and she could feel a soft thing next to her.

Subconsciously, she reached out her hand, her fingers came into contact with that soft thing, it felt cold and slippery, and then, as was bitten by a snake, she immediately and instinctively withdraw her fingers: that soft thing, was a dead man’s hand.

She screamed and eyes snapped open.

It wasn't raining, nor was she lying among the dead under Mount taygetos. She was lying on a bed, a wrinkled hand with prominent veins was holding a wet cloth, wiping away the mud and dried blood from her face and body.

Kassandra felt the pain wrapping up all over her body. She wanted to ask where she was, but her voice was stuck in her throat and turned into a groan.

“Kassandra！Eleni, Kassandra is awake! " There was a cry of excitement, and then a face approached and almost nose to nose with Kassandra.

Kassandra blinked. Anais, Anias had followed her, and that scream, she was beaten by half a dozen boys much older than her, then... "Where's..." she struggled to sit up, but a sharp pain in her lower chest suddenly pushed her down, and she curled up with a moan the moment her back touched the bed again.

"Be careful." That wrinkled hand dropped the wet cloth, held her and turned her around.

Then she saw an old woman with gray hair, and Anias was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at her nervously, "Kassandra..."

"Alas..." The old woman sighed. "Such a sin. Two broken ribs for such a small child."

"It's Elpenors' two sons." A low voice came from the corner.

"Elpenor? He hasn't been back to Kephallopnia for at least three years. It's a mystery. No one knows what he's doing out there."

"Four years, but his family here is never short of drachma, and his two sons are becoming total malakas thanks to those drachma."

"Who are you? Where is Ikaros? I'm going to find Ikaros. " Kassandra had no idea whom they were talking about, and had even less interest to find out. She struggled to get out of bed again, but was gently but firmly pressed on the bed by the old woman. The pain and dizziness had left her with no strength to protest.

"Lie down, Kassandra. If you don't want to go to Tartaros at this early age, you need to listen. I'm Eleni, and I'm a healer. That's my son Hector in the corner. He carried you back." The tall figure in the corner whistled.

"You may also want to thank this little buddy who ran all the way to our house and took Hector to find you and Anais." Two excited barks came from the bedside.

"Of course, what you should thank most is your friend, Anais. she sent her little friend Nico to find us, and stayed by your side when you were unconscious until Hector found you, with a broken spear in her hand. What a silly child, as if she can keep both of you safe from wolves and bears with this broken spear. ”

“Well, this is it, she told me this is precious to you.” Eleni took out the broken spear from behind.

"Uh? Where's Anais? She was just here. " Eleni looked around suspiciously.

Kassandra felt her tear ducts burning, she had just seen Anais slipped away from the bedside, crept out through the open door behind Eleni. She wanted to say something, but her mouth opened and closed, no sound came out.

"Hector, go find Anais. It's getting dark, don't let the little girl running around alone." Eleni turned to speak to the figure in the corner.

"Yes, mater." Another whistle, the door opened and closed, and the tall figure disappeared outside.

"Well, you already know who we are, we'll help you find your little feathered friend tomorrow. Now, drink this." Eleni picked up a bowl with brown liquid from the table behind her, and she helped Kassandra to sit up. "Drink this and have a good sleep. You'll feel better tomorrow."

Kassandra was obedient this time. The brown liquid was warm and bitter. Kassandra frowned and drank up, but two drops of tears trickled down her cheeks into the bowl. Eleni saw it, but said nothing. She tenderly rubbed her head and tucked her up. "Now, sleep."

Kassandra was in bed for three days. Most times she were half asleep, and Eleni only occasionally awakened her to take medicine. Markos came once. Kassandra was awake when she heard his voice, but she pretended to be asleep. Then she heard Eleni’s reproachful voice and Markos' embarrassing laughter. She found it really amusing and wanted to laugh, but as she inhaled hard her chest began to hurt again. She bit her lips and held back.

However, during Kassandra's waking hours, she did not see Anais, not even once, her could sense Ikaros presence, but could not see where he was clearly.

Kassandra had never been more upset and ashamed. She treated Anais like a total Maláka, why on earth did Anais want to save her ass? Even that means risking her own life?

Kassandra woke up at noon on the fourth day, the room was quiet. She didn't’ want to stay in bed any more, the pain was no longer unbearable, and she was eager to find Ikaros, and Anais, as she owed her a thank-you and an apology.

She bitted her lips and sat up slowly, supported herself by the bedside to stand up, and staggered along the wall to the door. Eleni and Hector didn't seem to be at home, so she could sneak out. She pushed the door, but the door remained still. She thought that she had lost her strength by staying bed too long, so she pressed her whole body against the door, but the door still wouldn't budge. They must have locked the door from the outside.

Kassandra saw the open window, and was considering to climb up. But it was bit high for her as she did’t have the strength to jump.

Suddenly, she heard foot steps outside the door. Caught by surprise, she stepped back in a rush, but her legs felt like jelly and gave out under her. She lost her balance and fell hard on her back, and couldn't help uttering a cry of agony.

The door was pushed open, Hector and Anais rushed in, as well as that brown dog named Nico, and Ikaros, flapped his wings from Nico's back, quietly landed beside Kassandra.

“Ikaros!” Kassandra was choking, both by pain and excitement.

Ikaros rubbed his head against Kassandra's forearm, his eyes full of questions.

"Kassandra, what happened?" Anais looked in a real panic.

“I...stumbled over myself.”It sounds stupid, Kassandra regretted immediately for being so honest.

Hector, a handsome young man in his early 20s, step forward and wanted to lift her from the ground.

"No," Kassandra gasped, struggling to sit straight. "I can get up myself."

Well, she could not. All her muscles refused to take orders.

Hector took a step back, arms crossed in front of his chest, and looked at her in amusement.

Kassandra’s face started burning. She was not good at accepting other’s help. It was easier for her to say no than yes. Now she was biting her lips awkwardly, her face got redder and redder as she sat on the ground not moving.

"Come on, Kassandra, Eleni said you have to rest for a few more days before you can walk around." Anais, noticing the embarrassment, held out a hand. This time, Kassandra didn't refuse, instead, she grabbed Anais's hand gratefully and rose unsteadily with her pull. The hand was soft and small, and Kassandra was a little surprised by the strength of it.

"Well, thank you." Kassandra whispered, "You saved my life."As soon as she said those words, she felt her cheek started burning again, so she lowered her head in a hurry.

"I... no... It was Eleni and Hector who saved you, I was just..." Anais's voice began to stutter. Kassandra suddenly realized that she was still holding Anais's hand, so she instantly let it go.

She took a quick glance at Anais, and found that she was almost red from face to neck.

"Well, then thank you for scaring them away and staying with me." Kassandra cleared her throat, "more gratitude for finding Ikaros, we owe you our lives."

Ikaros hopped from the ground to the nearby table, nodded his head and chirped twice, as if in agreement.

He’s in better shape than I am, Kassandra thought a little bitterly.

"Uh, actually, we didn't find Ikaros. He found us. When we went out this morning, he was on a tree not far away from the bush. Then he saw Nico and flew to us." Anais explained, "it seems that he and Nico are already friends."

As if to confirm Anais's statement, Ikaros hopped from the table to Nico's back, and pecked one of Nico's ear playfully, Nico barked happily in return.

Kassandra snorted, but also a little curious, "why do they seem to have known each other for some time?"

"They've known each other for a long time, Kassandra. You and Ikaros saved Nico. Don't you remember?"

Kassandra began to rack her brains to remember what had happened, and finally recollected that about 20 days ago, she saw a wolf forced a dog to a cliff. She threw her broken spear to scare away the wolf, Ikaros also flew to help. Then the dog ran away, and Ikaros disappeared for sometime before he came back to find Kasandra.

"Well," she thought jealously, "An eagle is better than me at making friends."

Since then, Anais had been followed her secretly and ardently. 

Kassandra scratched the back of her neck. “I...I’m sorry about...”

"Oh please, no more sorry, and no more thank you. How can you kids be so complicated? Can’t you just be friends like Ikaros and Nico?" Hector, standing next to them, interrupted suddenly, then he grabbed Kasandra's wrist and Anais's wrist at same time, "Now, shake hands. "

This time, it was Kassandra who reached out and took Anais's hand. She saw that she was blushing again, but she didn't flinch or lower her head.

A big smile appear on Kassandra’s face, she had a friend now in Kephallopnia, as well as Ikaros.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can a dog and an eagle really be friends? I hope so~
> 
> We are going to move fast the next chapter, so buckle up!


	3. Truth or Dare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adolescence, and you know what is going to happen since I changed the tag~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first time I wrote some intimate scene, and I spent longer time translating than writing this time...
> 
> This is how Kassandra supposed to be look like in this character, check the link if you are curious :)

Kassandra didn't like Hector at all.

She was 15 years old now, and was about the same height as Markos. Unlike other girls of her age, Kassandra didn't show feminine curves, well, maybe a little, but anyone who saw her will definitely pay attention to her firm and warrior like muscles. The outline of the muscles of her arms was like carved out of marble, as well as her long, straight legs exposed from a short chiton. And her bright amber eyes, her exquisite nose, and her well defined jawline - Yes, 15-year-old Kassandra attracted lots of attention, girls would giggle and whisper when they see her, while the young men would roll their eyes, but no one dared to challenge her. She was taller and stronger than most of them, and her eagle would always fly down from sky as a fierce helper.

After being badly beaten by Elpenors' sons and their gang five years ago, Kassandra had made up her mind that she will never be that vulnerable again and will always keep Ikaros safe.

Five years ago, when she told Markos firmly that she wanted to be a misthios, Markos began to laugh. Nevertheless, Kassandra's unbroken eye contact had made him stop. Maybe he already realized that this child from nowhere, always taller and stronger than other children, couldn't do his sneaky jobs forever. So Markos took her to a local tavern near the docks that day. In the backyard, the sailors who came to Kephallonia with their ships and few mysterious guests from nowhere, were always wrestling there. The winner would be removed from the bill and any previous bills by the tavern owner, and would also be rewarded by drachmae or gifts from other drinkers.

Since then, Kassandra almost went there every day to watch people wrestling and fight. When she first challenged a young sailor at age of 12, that sailor, a head taller than her, didn't last a count to 30 before Kassandra firmly pressed his shoulders to the ground.

By 15, the usual fight in the backyard of the tavern bored her. She would only go there to see if there were mysterious visitors. Among these people, one could always tell who was the real misthios. They always sat silently in a corner, drinking alone, without attracting too much attention. Kassandra were trying to guess the story of each of them from the weapons and scars they carried. She once tried to chat up a misthios who was as big as a mountain with only one good eye under his helmet. But the man left drachmae on the table and walked away without looking back. If such a conspicuous Cyclops can be a misthios, why can't I? Kassandra thought bitterly.

Kassandra, whose appearance was enough to stand out, was completely unfit for sneaking and pilfering. Now, in addition to train herself every day, she and Ikaros went to the woods on the mountains to hunt some antelopes and rabbits. Markos gave her the attic full of sundries as her bedroom, so she still had to go to the blacksmith, stonemason and shoemaker to collect or repay his money, to pay for her own rent.

However, the job which was so easy for 10 year old Kassandra, became a little tricky now. 15 days ago, she went to the blacksmith's house to collect money for Markos. The blacksmith's wife looked at her with bedroom eyes and all of a sudden pinched her biceps, just then the blacksmith returned from the outside. Since then, it became almost impossible for her to meet the wife of the blacksmiths, as well as the wives of stonemasons and shoemakers.

That day, the blacksmith didn't pay the debt, so Kassandra went back this time.

"Well, hey, You should pay back the money you borrowed from Markos. The total amount is 65 drachmae with interest." Kassandra saw the blacksmith striking iron outside his house and came straight to the point.

"I don't have any drachmae. I'm going to raise a family. Can't I have a few more days?"

"It has been extended for twenty days. Of course, the interest of twenty days has already been added."

"I really don't have drachmae. Besides, you touched my wife, that count for nothing?"

Kassandra blushed. "I...didn't..."

She turned around and wanted leave, but suddenly she became annoyed at herself for being such a coward. So instead of leaving, she lifted her foot and kicked over a jar beside her, the milk in it spilled all over the ground.

"What the fuck! what are you doing?"

"Give me the damn drachmae! If you don't pay, I'll smash all your belongings!" Kassandra said gruffly, while breaking a bowl full of cheese.

"Alright! Alright, stop! I’ll pay you now! " The blacksmith ferociously took a bag from a box, counted and threw it to her, "Give it to Markos, that old malaka should go to Tartarus."

Kassandra caught the bag. "And my stuff?"

"Hum," the blacksmith puffed, and took out a small wrapped package from his pocket and threw it to her.

"If I see you touching my wife again, I'll hire a misthios to break your legs!"

Kassandra snorted, opening the package and looking inside, then smiled with satisfaction. The real misthios in Kephallonia were as rare as Pegasus, she didn’t have to be afraid.

With the drachmae and the small package, Kassandra went to the opposite direction of the Markos' house, she wanted to see Anais.

Anias's home was a shabby two-floor building near the beach. Her eldest brother had been married and moved out, she lived in there with her parents, two other elder brothers. Kassandra ran to the backyard of Anias's house, she was about to climb over the wall and go directly to the attic to find Anias. A tall figure came out of the front door had caught her attention, Kassandra's good mood suddenly evaporated. Hector, of course, Who else could it be? What's more, she saw Anais following Hector and sending him out of the door. Hector smiles and patted her bare upper arm.

Malaka! Kassandra gritted her teeth and wanted to walk away, but suddenly two "woof" and a dark figure shot out and knocked her down to the ground, and her face was met by Nico's warm tongue and dripping saliva.

"Kassandra!" Hector and Anias looked in her direction at the same time.

Kassandra saw Hector curling his lips. "What a pleasant surprise." He turned to Anias and said, "Don't forget to go to my place tomorrow." Then he turned back and winked at Kassandra before walked away.

Kassandra pushed enthusiastic Nico away, stood up with a sullen face.

"What is he doing here? And you're going to his place tomorrow? "

"Returning a favor." Anais said casually, "Come here, come."

Kassandra reluctantly walked over, Anais grabbed her left wrist. Only then she paid attention to a cut on her left hand, a small stream of blood was dripping down her fingertips.

She said indifferently, "It’s just a small cut...”

Anais held up her hand and took something from her waist bag and put it on the wound.

“Shit! It burns! What is this? "

"Ointment. Stop being a baby. ”Then Anais took a piece of clean cloth out of her pocket, wrapped up the wound, then released her hand, looked up at her with satisfaction, "Who are you fighting with again?"

"I can't even find a fight in Kephallonia." Kassandra crossed her arms in front of her chest in a conceited way.

Anais snorted, but Kassandra saw a small smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"Well, take this." Before Anais looked up to speak, Kassandra put the small package in her palm.

Anias opened, there were two bright pearls each with a small metal hook on the top.

"And this is?"

"I found two pearls of same shape and color on the beach, so I think it's appropriate to make a pair of earrings, because you are the only one I know who wears earrings, so I’d like you to have this." Kassandra rubbed the back of her hand against her nose, waggled her bare toes.

She lied. She spent the whole afternoon diving in the bay, trying find two pearls of perfect shape and color, and the oysters she opened that day became a big dinner for her and Ikaros. It also took her 20 drachmae to make earrings out of these pearls from the blacksmith, almost all of the private drachmae she had saved over the years.

Anais opened her eyes widely. "Kassandra, I love it, it's really nice of you." She got a father and three elder brothers who had been on the sea for all their life, yet she has never received a gift like this.

"Tomorrow is your fifteenth birthday, isn't it?" Kassandra pretended to be unconcerned. "Are you going to Hector's tomorrow?"

"Yes." Anais said quietly and nothing more.

"Then I'll meet you at the beach by sunset?" Kassandra tried to suppress a tinge of jealousy in her voice.

"Alright."

"Then see you tomorrow. Good night. "

Just as Kasandra was about to turn around, Anais suddenly stood on tiptoe and kissed Kassandra on her cheek. "Thank you, Kassandra, this is the best birthday present I've ever received."

* * *

Kassandra was restless. The sun had set far below the sea level, the last of the sunlight was verging into darkness. The silver crescent moon and the great bear was emerging from the increasingly inky sky. Anais was late. Anais went to Hector’s place on her birthday and was late to meet Kassandra.

Kassandra sat angrily on the beach, kicking the sand, and images of Anais and Hector and their intimacy flashed through her mind. "Malaka!" she gritted her teeth. "I'll find a chance to beat that guy!"

"Who are you going to fight with this time?" A sudden voice from behind almost startled Kassandra to her feet.

"Anais?" she looked back and saw Anais, a slight blush on her face and little wobbly on her feet.

"You're late, and, drunk." Now Kassandra’s mood was even sourer.

"I...I'm not drunk. " Anais sat down next to Kassandra, who could notice the smell of wine on her.

She is definitely drunk. What was that malaka's intention to let her drink? The more Kassandra thought about it, the angrier she became. Involuntarily, she clenched her fist.

Suddenly, Anais's hand was on her fist and her lips were close to her ear. A sweet smell of wine came to her nostril. "Do you dare play a game with me?"

Kassandra snorted. "It’s your birthday. Of course everything is up to you. What kind of game?"

"When I ask you truth or dare, you have to choose either one. If you say truth, you must answer honestly for my following question; if you choose dare, then you must do whatever I’m going to ask you to do, and can't say no."

"It sounds boring. Anyway, you go first."

“Truth or Dare?”

“Dare.”

"Kiss me."

"What!?" Kassandra almost jumped off her feet, and stuttered, "You... You...You... must have drunk too much!”

"Kassandra, what did I just say? You can't say no.”

“Al...Alright, I’ll do it.”

Kassandra looked at Anais's pink, pouting lips, took a hard swallow, She sniffed, lowered her head, and closed her eyes to pressed a kiss on it .

Anais's lips were surprisingly soft. There was a taste of sweet wine and olive. To her astonishment, Anais's lips had opened slightly, and she kissed a little harder, stayed a little longer than expected.

The tip of her tongue gently touched Anais's when she heard a slight groan.

Kassandra broke the kiss, she felt a strange heat spreading through her chest and lower down. She opened her eyes, looked down at Anais, and saw that she was looking back at her with an unfamiliar tenderness.

"Well, it's your turn." Kassandra cleared her throat and broke the silence.

"Oh..." Anais seemed to have just woken up from a dream, her face reddened and dropped her eyes.

“Truth or Dare?”

“Truth.”

Kassandra bit her lips, thought for a long time, and finally said, "Have you and Hector ever done something?"

"Done What? " Anais didn't seem to catch on.

"It is, that, ugh..." Kassandra couldn't find the right word. "It's, ugh, maybe...like we just did..."

"Stop it, Kassandra, it's insane. What are you thinking every day?! I treat Hector with total respect, like a big brother.” Anais frowned angrily, and her voice became sharp.

"Al...alright, then." Kassandra muttered defeatedly, but wasn't about to give up, "Then why did you go to his place for a whole day on your birthday and get drunk?"

"Kassandra, what did I just say？One question at a time." Anais's face sank a little. "I will tell you, but not now."

Kassandra snorted disapprovingly, but didn't pursue. "Well, it's my turn again, please."

“Truth or Dare?”

“Truth.”

"Well," Anais said with cunning smile, "since you care so much about me, I’d like to know you well, too - has the blacksmith's wife ever done anything to you?"

"What?!" Kassandra almost yelled, "which malaka said that nonsense?! I must..."

"Answer the question, Kassandra." Anais squinted and looked at her with amusement.

"Well," Kassandra sighed dejectedly, "she... she pinched my arm one day.”

"Anything else?"

"...And....And smacked my ass...” Kassandra felt her ears burning, by the gods, it’s so stupid and humiliating.

Anias burst out laughing, "I really haven't heard of the second part - I’d like to know more details, but," she paused, "I'll let you go this time."

Kassandra turned her head angrily. "Truth or dare?" she asked in a gruff tone.

“Dare.”

An idea of a vengeful prank suddenly came up, and Kassandra blurted out without thinking, "take off your top." As the words came out, she could hardly believe her ears. "Ugh..."

She saw Anais looking at her with wide open eyes, filled with emotions she didn't know how to decipher. Surprised? Shyness? Or what is that, Desire? A blush rose from Anais's cheek. She lowered her head and her hands reached to the edge of her top.

"Anais, don't...I..." Kassandra reached out to stop her, but Anais had swiftly removed her top and dropped it on the ground.

Kassandra blushed instantly and quickly lowered her head.

"Kassandra," Anais's voice was so soft, but also with an irresistible strength, "look at me." "Ugh..." Kassandra still didn't look up.

An arm reached over and lifted Kassandra's chin.

Kassandra's looked up, and she was going to remember what she saw for the rest of her life. Bright moonlight sprinkled on Anais's exposed upper body, her round and full breasts bulged from the smoothness of her ribs, and the tips of those two peaks...Kassandra suddenly felt dizzy, the brown tips had hardened, stood erect on the pink tops, rise and fall with Anias's unstable breathing.

Kassandra swallowed hard, and the heat in her lower abdomen began to burn, she was wetting between legs.

"Kassandra, it's your turn again. Truth or dare？”The voice of Anais sounded like it was coming from another world.

Kassandra shook her head and looked up to see Anais's eyes. In the silver moonlight, there were ripples in those dark brown eyes.

"Truth." Kassandra began to wonder if she was dreaming.

"Well, in that case, Kassandra..." Anais's eyes were filled with infinite tenderness, and her voice was almost soft as a whisper..."What do you want to do with me now?"

"I..." Kassandra felt that she had forgotten how to speak, "I...think, I want to... "

Before her brain could come up with a complete sentence, Anais's lips pressed fiercely on her lips, their tongues began to dance around, their hands began to explore every part of each other. Soon enough, they were entangled and completely naked.

Anais's hand stroked the fine lines of Kassandra's sculpted abs and began to move down.

Kassandra couldn't help but let out a soft moan.

"You know what? I always wanted to touch this before the blacksmith's wife. "

"Are you finished?" Kassandra pretended to be angry, then kissed all the way down form Anais's jaw, until she reached one of the erect tips, and she sucked with some deliberate force.

Anais gasped, in uncontrollable sensation.

Kassandra put one hand around Anais's neck and laid her gently flat on the clothes they had just taken off. The other hand eagerly moved further down to the tight and smooth abdomen of Anais, while she rubbed the other tip with her tongue. But when her hand finally reached the wetted curls, she hesitated, then stopped.

“Are you sure? I mean...”

"Yes...Kassandra... Yes..." Anais's voice was messy and ragged.

When her finger finally find the wettest spot and began to sink in, Anias's brows knitted and gave out a soft cry.

Kassandra stopped again. She was afraid of hurting Anias, and was about to withdraw, but Anais's hand reached out to grab her wrist.

“No, Kassandra, don’t be. I’ve always wanted this...it has always been you...”

Kassandra leans over with a smile and pressed a soft kiss on Anais's lips.

Like a sacred ceremony without witness, their panting, moaning, tears and laughter were carried far away by the waves, to the darkness of the other end of the coast. Well, maybe Aphrodite had heard them, and witnessed with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Anais just invented a party game going to be popular 2500 years later...hope that didn’t change the course of history :)
> 
> Thanks a lot to my friend AquilaVolat, who helped to minimize the grammar mistakes!


	4. Misthios

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kassandra met the first boss in her life~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Begin with a M tag~ I split a longer chapter in my mind to two shorter ones~:)

Anais bit on Kassandra’ shoulder and suppressed an uncontrollable scream. Her eyes closed, body tightened, and she began to shake involuntarily. Kassandra slowed down the pace, stayed in with Anais until the climax passed, her body relaxed, breath became smooth, face flushed, and finally, her eyes opened and gave Kassandra a smile.

"You're getting cockier, you know that?"

"Oh, really?" Kassandra finally pulled out her fingers, causing Anais sighed in protest. "I think the cockier I am," she said, with a sly smile on her lips. "The more you like me."

Anais snorted, arms around Kassandra's neck and pulled her upper body down until their bare breasts were pressed together. The unexpected soft contact made Kassandra gasp. What's more, Anais's arm had been sliding between them, and now her hand was in Kassandra' crotch.

"Someone has being naughty." Kassandra tried to control a shaking voice, and grabbed Anais's wrist.

They limbs entangled, and their kisses and touches again became frantic, they didn't know how long it went, until they were both sweating all over and panting heavily.

Since they developed this newly found "hobby" on Anais's birthday 15 days ago, Kassandra and Anais had explored almost every secluded places of Kephallonia while exploring each other. The cave hidden behind the waterfall, the ruins covered by the woods, the deserted huntress’ cabin entwined with vines, even the rooftop of the Markos’ house when he was away.

However, the last place brought some troubles to Kassandra. She overestimated the bearing capacity of the roof and underestimated the thrashing intensity of Anais. Only when she heard a cracking sound under them that day, did she realize that one of the beams had broken.

The next day, Kassandra spent almost the whole day chopping wood, changing the beam and repairing the roof, when she climbed down exhausted from the roof with dust and sweat, Anais, who had been waiting impatiently below, almost dragged her to the other side of the stream with tall reeds. The next thing happened had completely offset the tiredness and unhappiness of the day's hard work: Kassandra had never bathed in this part of the stream under the moonlight, let alone with Anais and their newly found hobby in the refreshing water.

Now, they were behind the reefs on the beach again, which might always be Kassandra's favorite place in Kephallonia. Anais had her back towards Kassandra, the moonlight sprinkled on her smooth skin, swaying with each breath. Kassandra watched, couldn’t help stretching out one arm to cuddle Anais from behind, and then moving restlessly to Anais's breasts...

With a resounding smack, Anais slapped heavily on the back of Kassandra’s hand.

"Ouch, that hurts...what are you doing?" Kassandra muttered, withdraw her hand immediately.

"What ARE YOU doing? I have to go home now. I can't sleep in the grass and feed mosquitoes every night."

Kassandra bit her lower lip, then spoke shyly,"Anais, I think I’ll move out of Markos place."

"Move out? Where do you live then? "

"I can build a new house, I've already rebuilt a roof. How about this place? I can...make a Home...for us." Kassandra lowered her head, and her voice became like a whisper, the end of the sentence was almost inaudible.

Anais suddenly turned around and looked directly into Kassandra's eyes. Her face was full of surprise and affection, "Kassandra, you are so sweet..." and then she gently kisses the corner of her mouth, "but..." Anais was obviously hesitating, "there's something I haven't told you yet..."

"Well?" Kassandra raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Kassandra, what are your plans for the future? What do you want to be? What will you do for living?”

"I...I want to be a mithios, formidable one, no one dares to challenge. "

Anais narrowed her eyes. "Mithios? Don't even know if they could live to see the sun the next day? Are you going to be so reckless all your life? "

"I... I can take on less dangerous tasks... "

"Mithios's task is always dangerous. Otherwise why people don’t do it themselves but pay for someone else to do for them?" Anais interrupted. "Kassandra, have you ever thought about leaving Kephallonia?"

To Kassandra, Kephallonia, a remote and barren island, was no better and no worse than anywhere else. It accepted her as an exiled orphan with open arms eight years ago. Kassandra had nothing to complain about.

"I don't know... Leaving, where can I go? "

"Grand and legendary places, like Lakonia? The City of Sparta?”

A chill shiver rippled over Kassandra, by the gods, it even hurt to hear that sound...

The scene on Mount Taygetos cuts across her eyes like a sharp blade, and her breath became ragged, palms sweating.

“Kassandra...You okay? what happened? " Anias was obviously startled by Kassandra who suddenly turned pale. She reached a hand to Kassandra's chest and felt her heart beating wildly. She held her close with a tight embrace, and gradually felt her heartbeats slowing down.

"I..." Kassandra shook her head. "Nothing..." The memory was so painful that she wasn't ready to share, even with Anais.

"Do you remember you asked me why I went to Hector’s place on my birthday?" Anais continued to hold Kassandra tightly, and speak close to her ear.

"I asked him to find a way to help me leaving Kephallonia, and he had found a way."

"You are leaving Kephallonia? " Kassandra felt like taking another blow.

"Not without you! It's not what you think." Anais held her closer with more force, pressing to her chest. "Lakonia is going to set up a medical school. Famous healers from all over the Greece have received the invitation, Eleni has received it. But she said that she was too old for a long trip, and asked Hector to go on her behalf."

"We can go together, Kassandra. Hector can take two apprentices with him. The boat fare and accommodation are paid by Sparta. Don't you want to be a mithios? In Lakonia, you can get much better training than here, and if you want to be a mithios, I think I'd better be a healer like Eleni and Hector... "

"Thank you..." Kassandra felt her eyes watery, but she didn't know what to say.

"Wouldn't you like to see the bigger world with me? Kassandra, Kephallonia is too small for you. "

"I...I don't know... " Kassandra was not ready, maybe she would never be ready to return to Sparta. Even if Anais wants to go to Tartarus, she will follow her without hesitation. But for all places in the whole world, Anais wants go to Lakonia. Why the gods always fond of a cruel joke like this?

"Kassandra, the ship to Lakonia leaves in 15 days. If you don't go, I won't go either..." Anais's voice trembled slightly. She gave Kassandra a gentle kiss on her lips.  
  


* * *

  
Kassandra knew she was being followed.

After sending Anais home, on her way back to Markos' house, she heard rustling sound of bushes behind her, not only one person, but also an...animal.

There was a sudden gust of wind, and Kassandra caught a glimpse of a dark figure jump on her, She instantly leaped to the other side. The shadow missed her narrowly, landed silently in front of her. Then it giving out a low roar and confronting her: a hyena.

Suddenly there was a shrill cry from the air, followed by the sound of flapping wings. Ikaros was here.

"Is that the pet eagle?" A hoarse voice came from behind. Kassandra slowly turned, with her eyes still fixed on the hyena. The hyena walked slowly in circle with her, and stopped by a man’s feet.

He was only slightly taller than Kassandra, dressed in light armor, his face barely visible in the shadow of the trees, a long sword hanging from his waist glittering cold light.

"Who are you?" Kassandra tried to calm her voice as she reaching to her back for the broken spear, but her right hand began to shake slightly.

"A mithios. Kid, someone's paying a lot for your head."

Kassandra retreated slowly. Who would want her worthless life?

Seeing the man move a hand to his waist, Kassandra pulled out her spear from behind in a rush, with a flash of cold light, The man's sword was thrusting towards her chest, her spear just barely blocked the tip of the sword that going to run her through, but when the sharp blade deflected, the man slashed it heavily on her left shoulder. She cried out in pain, staggered back a few steps, and the blood gushed out, painted her short chiton crimson.

Ikaros screamed and dived from above, clawing at the man's bare neck, who was in a hurry to avoid it, but the hyena bared its teeth when smelled blood, made a sudden ferocious move at wobbling Kassandra.

Kassandra could not lift her injured shoulder, she could only hold up her right arm with the spear to ward off, the sharp fangs didn’t reach her throat, but one of the hyena's front paws ploughing deep into her upper arm, three bloody trails almost made a full circle from her tricep to bicep.

Kassandra gasped violently. Her left shoulder felt like a beating fireball buried within, the bone could be seen from the split wound, numbness had fall down from her left arm to fingertips. The new explosion of pain on her right arm had almost made her unable to hold the spear.

The hissing hyena began to surround her and prepare for the next attack. The mithios had already got free from Ikaros' interference and stepped forward, raised his sword again...

Am I going to die here?

Kassandra suddenly felt time slowing down. She saw that sword stabbing at her and made a bold move. She leaned to one side to avoid the tip of the sword, but allowed it to go through her side. The sound of the blade cutting through skin and flesh reached her tympanic membrane through her bones, but she did not feel the pain. She lowered the injured left shoulder, held the sword firmly under her arm, even this made the blade cut deeper into her side and the arm.

The mithios was obviously shocked by the unexpected move. Just as he hesitating whether to give up the weapon or take some effort to get it back, the spear in Kassandra's right hand sliced into his bare throat. His eyes widened, blood spouted from his neck, then he fell back to the ground, twitching, and soon completely unmoving.

Before Kassandra’s attention turned to the hyena, Ikaros had taking actions in advance. His claws had pierce into its back, when the hyena howled and turned back to bite, Ikaros flapped his wings and pecked at one of its eyes. The hyena whined madly, then ran off with its master’s motionless body lying behind.

"Ikaros, thank you." Kassandra swayed back and leaned against a tree behind her. As the adrenaline subsided, the pain flooded in, and Kassandra could feel the blood flowing out from the throbbing wounds, her vision began to blur, and her eyelids became heavy. She wanted to lie down on the ground and sleep for a while, but the conscious part of her mind flashed a red alarm: if she lay down now, she would probably never get up again.

I need help.

She steady herself by the tree and stumble forward. She had lost her judgment of where she was going, only mechanically dragged her legs, left a small pool of blood on the ground at each step.

Ikaros screamed and flew in front of her.

The new moon appeared in front of Kassandra's eyes, deep and distant sound of waves reached her ears. The hard ground under her feet turned into soft sand, as if lost necessary support, Kassandra's legs suddenly gave up, She dropped to her knees and then fell face down on the beach. The sand was soft and warm. There was no better place to sleep.

If there were no sudden "woof" and the sound of flapping wings, Kassandra would certainly have fall asleep, then her face was cupped in a pair of soft hands, her head resting on a familiar thigh.

“Gods, Kassandra, stay with me, please...”

She lifted her right hand with the last bit of strength, grabbed the hand cupping her face and squeezed it.

I'm okay. She said it with this gesture instead of words.

That was the last thing she could remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I looked at ACO’s map again, I just kept wondering how Kassandra ended up on Kephallonia from Mount Taygetos in a small fishing boat?


	5. Leaving Kephallonia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving Kephallonia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be angsty 🤧

“Now there are only 10 days left. I’m not sure whether she can get aboard in this condition, are you sure you won’t leave without her?"

"I've told you, Hector, if she didn’t go, neither would I!"

"This may be the only chance you can get out of this damn place, and even if you choose to stay, you can not be together, you know that!"

“I don’t care！I love her!”

Kassandra's tears swirled in her eyes. Anais and Hector, they thought their voices were low enough, but she had heard everything. It was the fifth day since she almost got killed, again. She had been in this bed for five days, her right shoulder, left arm and torso were all bandaged. The memory of passed five days were pretty vague. She only remembered that Eleni had tried her best to keep her right arm. The wound was very deep, not only the skin needed to be sutured, but also the tendon deep down. In a semi-conscious state, the pain of steel needle and threads pierce through the flesh, on and on, still felt so real. During her waking hours, Kassandra tried not to make a sound. However, when she was not conscious, she might have groaned or even screamed, because she had woke up several times to find Anais grabbing her left hand, with tears on her face.

She loves me.

Hearing the sound of opening and closing the door, Kassandra turned her head away, not wanting anyone who came in to see her tears. Gods, she felt herself totally useless, couldn’t even lift an arm to wipe away her own tears.

Hector cleared his throat, "I'm sorry to disturb you, Kassandra."

"That's all right." Kassandra didn't look back.

"Anias should have told you that we are going to leave for Lakonia in 10 days."

Kassandra's shoulder trembled slightly.

"Anias won’t leave without you, but for your present condition, I have to check with Eleni to decided whether I can take you on board."

Kassandra snorted, "I haven't decided for myself yet."

"Well? Then you'd better make a decision as soon as possible. By the way, did Anias tell you why she wanted to leave kephallonia so badly?"

"Because she felt the place was remote and desolate and wanted to see the bigger world."

"So she didn't tell you she has been engaged? "

"What!?"

Kassandra struggled to sit up, she could hardly move her right shoulder as it was kept in place by the bandage, but she felt the wounds in her left arm and torso being torn open again by the sudden movement, she hissed and bit her lips hard.

"You should be careful. I don't want Anais to eat me alive." Hector frowned.

"She was engaged with whom, when? " Kassandra finally found her voice.

"Less than a month? The guy is Orestes. The second son of the Elpenor, well, you stabbed his hand five year ago. "

Kassandra felt blood gushing up her head, how could she forget? "Anias is going to marry that Maláka?"

"Relax, it was her father's decision. You knew that her family was poor, always on the edge. Her father worried about preparing dowry for her. While the two sons of Elpenor have nothing but money. I’ve no idea when Orestes had took interest in Anias, he demanded no dowry, also promised to give a grand sum of Drachmae to the family, so... "

"So her father sold his own daughter like a slave!" Kassandra almost yelling back.

"Now, you know why Anias insisted on leaving Kephallonia. About a month ago before her birthday, she found me secretly, she said that she would never going to marry Orestes, she’d rather kill herself instead. " Hector said dryly.

"Why didn't she tell me?! I'm going to find her! " Kassandra rolled out of bed, but her legs felt like water and she sagged flabbily to her knees.

"Well, with your temper and your history with Orestes, I believe Anias was protecting you by not telling, can’t you see it?" Hector scrambles to lift Kassandra up from the ground, trying to avoid the bandaged wounds.

Kassandra leaned against the wall, gasping for air, so Anias must go this time, she needs to leave Kephallonia with Hector, this may be her only chance to escape from that Maláka Orestes.

But for herself? Does she want to go back to Lakonia with them? The place that used to be her home, but her whole life was tore apart on Mount Taygetos that night. Her father who threw his children off the cliff for the glory, and the nobles who thought her family had betrayed Sparta, could she go back to that place nameless, pretending that nothing had happened, that she has forgotten everything and forgiven everything? Even if she could, would those people? Those who are hiding in the dark, searching for her, hunting her? She has been lucky more than once, but when will be the next time? Could she escape? Will Anias be safe with her? Will she really be happy?

Finally, Kassandra came to a solution, perhaps the best for everyone. She stood straight, said as calmly as she could, "Hector, Anias says you're like her big brother. Is that true?"

Hector scratched the back of his head. "I think that I’m way better than her three useless brothers."

Kassandra narrowed her eyes. "So can you promise to take care of her and protect her, like you own little sister?"

Hector looks at her in surprise. "I can, but what about you? Don't you come with us?"

"I’m asking you, Hector, promise?"

“Promise.”

* * *

  
On the night before the departure, Kassandra opened the door and slipped out, taking advantage of Eleni and Hector's absence.

Anais had just left. Seeing Kassandra getting better, with the blood color returned to her face, Anias's attitude was obviously relaxed than the past few days. Kassandra understood, however, that every time Anias stopped talking, the searching look in her eyes was asking, "will you come with me?"

Kassandra pretended not to see, ignored all the questioning looks. The puzzled and hurt expression on Anais's face almost made her heart stop. "I have no other choice. I'm sorry, Anias." she kept saying this to herself in the back of her mind, over and over again.

Kassandra walked towards Markos' house in wobbling feet, her mind was in a daze, and the wounds were in dull pain, she stumbled over tree roots several times, luckily, managed to keep her balance. When she reached the front door of Markos’ house, the light was till on. She wedged a small folded sheet of papyrus in the crack as quietly as possible. "Markos, thank you." She whispered to herself, then turned around and walked away, this time, towards the beach.

The moon was hiding behind thick clouds, the sea was in total darkness, with the waves pounding the shore like a panting beast.

Kassandra found a small fishing boat that looked sturdy enough, then jumped in. Using only one arm, she pushed the oar with some difficulty, heading to the heart of the dark sea.

Poseidon had took her to Kephallonia eight years ago, Where is he going to take her this time? She only carried food and water sufficient for three days. What would she do after three days? She tried not to think about it, though she knew that her best chance of this reckless voyage was to be ended in the belly of some fish. So what? Her 15 years life was inconsequential like the foam on the sea, no one would miss her, and Anais would be better off without her.

Kassandra lay exhausted in the boat, The sun had risen from the sea level, gradually moving to the middle of the sky. She had no strength left to steer the boat anymore. The dazzling sunlight pricked her eyes like needles, so she simply closed her eyes and let the waves take the charge, to Poseidon's designated place. Her throat was parched, her body was in fever, but she had no desire to reach for the water bag close at hand. Instead, she gradually sank into dreamless unconsciousness.

In the distant sky, Ikaros was soaring and chirping. Anais and Hector should be on the ship to Lakonia already.

Myrrine once had taught her how to ride a horse. She was only five then, and was afraid of heights when she was carried on the horse back. She could feel the movement of gentle beast under her, and every bone in its back was rising and falling with each step. Riding a horse was far less comfortable than it seemed... "Sit up straight, looking up, and try to adapt to the rhythm of its movements..." Myrrine yelled from a distance behind her.

Kassandra opened her eyes. She was confused for a moment before realized that she was carried by a man on his back. “Markos? "She voice was so hoarse that she couldn't even hear herself clearly.

But the man heard her and replied, "Yes, old Markos, who else could it be? Oh, old Markos picked you up from the beach again. "

"The beach? But I've left Kephallonia! "

"Maybe, but not far enough. I was woken up by the sound of Ikaros pecking at the window this morning, and then I followed him to the beach, Aha, the same beach I picked you up eight years ago, and you were sleeping in a fishing boat."

"So I'm back? "

"Yep, and I’m sending you to Eleni’s again, do you know how much drachmae I spent..."

"Hey, Markos, put me down!" Kassandra suddenly realized that being carried on someone’s back was too demeaning, then struggled to get to her feet, but Markos didn’t release his grip, and she found herself too weak to protest.

“Stay put, we are almost there.”

After few attempts, Kassandra gave up, she paused for a while then anxiously asked, "Did Anais come to your house to find me?"

"Did she? Well she practically rampage every room in my house and even climbed on the roof! By the gods, can anyone hide on the roof? "

Kassandra now was glad she stayed on Markos’ back, at least Markos couldn’t see her face reddened.

"Ugh," she coughed, "Did you find the note I put in the crack of the door? Did you give it to Anais?"

"Yes, but she took a look at it and tore it apart, then she covered her face and cried."

Kassandra felt a lump in her throat and tried to fight back tears, what a Maláka I am.

Finally, she asked quietly, "Did Anias leave Kephallonia?"

"Yep, yesterday morning from my house, with Hector, crying all the way to aboard a big ship, I heard that they were going to Lakonia?"

Kassandra’s heart sank, she was left alone in Kephallonia again, but this was the best ending for everyone. 

"So...did you dump her?"

"What?! No!! No, I didn't..." Kassandra sputtered out with rage and frustration, "I... I love her! You...you know nothing! You won’t understand!”

She heard Markos sighed and muttered, "How can you kids be so complicated?"

Suddenly, she wish it was Anais who had heard that three words she just blurted out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter practically has no Kassandra & Anais interactions, sorry I have to end the relationship in this way, may be Markos was the biggest surprise? This is also the last chapter of Kephallonia, in next chapter we are moving:)


	6. Daphnae

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daphnae~ And I changed the rating to explicit, so you know what to expect 😏

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished this in Chinese three weeks ago, but only find time to translate in this weekend, this is a ‘different’ chapter, I will explain more in the end notes.

Daphnae didn't expect to see Kassandra again.

Since she became the leader of the daughters of Artemis three years ago, every month at the Temple of Artemis in Phokis, she could encounter several confident strangers who rose to the challenge. Those were young Spartan soldiers, skillful hunters, and sturdy mithios, like this one in front of her, who carried all kinds of weapons and scars. But until now, she had seen no one for a second time, not to mention handing her the perfect pelt of Kalydonian boar in less than half a day, with a look as if nothing had happened.

"I've finished your task. What's my reward? You should have known from all over the Greece that the service of the eagle bearer is not cheap. " The mithios, with her feet apart and her chin raised, was a complete megalomaniac.

Daphnae noticed one of Kassandra's hand pressed on her stomach, her eyebrows frowning when she spoke. Was she injured?

"This bow in my hand is your reward. It's one of the best bow of daughters of Artemis. It was made from the finest yew, the string was sinews in two alpha wolves’ legs..." she saw the mithios narrowed her eyes and was obviously interested. "But first, move your hand away and let me see your wound."

"What? Oh, it's just a scratch. There’ s no need to ... "

Before the mithios could finish  the sentence, Daphnae grabbed her wrist and  removed her hand, the sudden  contact made  the other woman bite her  lips and  hissed.

The leather armor was cut open with a palm long crack in the stomach, blood stained the armor, this was definitely not "a scratch".

"Take off your armor."

"Here? Now? Can't we find a more private place? " A teasing smile suddenly appeared on the mithios' lips.

By the gods, Daphnae couldn't help but roll her eyes. All the rumors about the eagle bearer seems to be justified. This mithios was not only annoyingly arrogant, but also promiscuous. Nevertheless, Daphnae's heart lost a beat with those provocative words. She could not deny the attractiveness of this mithios. Her glowing tanned skin, towering and strong build, long and muscular limbs, every part of her figure was as perfect as marble sculpture, while her body was full of raw force as Ares, her features were elegant and beautiful like Athena, with an oval face, a clear jawline, a straight nose bridge and cute tip, two dashing eyebrows hung above a pair of bright amber eyes.

A cough broke the silence by the other woman. Daphnae looked away with burning cheeks, "This ‘scratch’ needs to be deal with immediately, here, now." Daphnae could hardly believe herself, did she just smile when she said this?

The mithios shrugged indifferently, but gritted her teeth and took a deep breath as her reached out to untie the armor on her side.

"Let me..." Daphnae suddenly  felt sympathy for her, so she helped her to  untie the armor and removed it.

A large  part of  her  chiton  had  been dyed crimson, it is clear  that  the top priority was to clean the wound and stop bleeding.

"Sit down and take off your chiton." Daphnae began to  search her pocket for hemostatic ointment and clean cloth,  while trying to speak casually .

"Are you sure ? Usually other women took off their chiton in front of me first ... "

Daphnae was eager to give the mithios a smacker hit, but when she looked  at the other woman’s miserable form, she pressed down her bubbling anger and sat down beside her to help her take off the short chiton.

In her stomach, the skin almost a finger wide and a palm long was teared off, revealing a deep gash below, blood was still oozing from the wound, apparently a "gift" from the Kalydonian boar, now was only a pelt left at their feet. The wound was not critical as no internal organs seemed to be damaged, but it would be difficult to heal if not treated properly.  


Daphnae's eyes began to move up from the wound,  to  the six packs of  well-defined abdominal muscles, and  to  the  broad and  firm chest, which was  only wrapped in a piece of cloth, rose and fell with the  each  breath... She  blushed again , what's  even worse,a heat rising from  her lower abdomen...

"Hey, enjoying the view?” The mithios on the opposite side was obviously  amused, the corners of her mouth  turning up,  a provocative and cooky smile was on her lips.

Daphnae lowered her head and cursed, quickly drew a clean white cloth strip from her waist pocket, dipping some water from the jug, and pressed it hard on the wound.

"Malakas!" the mithios  swore loudly,  almost jumped up," Are you trying  help me or  kill  me ?"

“Just shut your mouth and stop burbling  If you want to  be treated  gently. " Daphnae snuffled through  her nostrils.

Miraculously, the threat seemed efficacious,  the mithios curled her  lips and stopped  talking, only hissed and quivered as Daphnae cleaned up the wound and applied the ointment. Daphnae's hand stroked  the  well-define abs with ointment repeatedly. It was as hard as a  stone  slate, but with soft and warm surfaces. Daphnae suddenly realized that the distance between her and the mithios was  dangerously close, so close that the other woman might be able to  smell her arousal...

Thankfully, even if  the other woman did find something, she said nothing  and showed  no sign.  She just sat thoughtfully with  bowed head, occasionally winced a little with pain. It wasn't until Daphnae wrapped  up the wound and tied it up ,  that she looked up and squinted at her.

"Am I allowed to leave now? And your bow, please.”

"You're staying in the temple tonight,  and was not allowed to go anywhere else." Daphnae stood up and said matter-of-factly.

"What?! Why? " the other woman rose her head, protesting loudly.

"It's getting dark now. You walk unsteadily with a smell of blood. If I let you leave now, the bears and the wolf will be happy with their dessert."

The mithios scratched the back of her head. "Although neither bears nor wolves are worthy opponents of mine, it would be very rude to refuse the company of a beautiful daughters of Artemis."

By the gods, not again. There was another cooky and inviting smile on the mithois face, which Daphnae pretty much like to slap in.

It was late at night, and Daphnae was still rummaging over the hide on the temple floor. Not far away, the mithios was apparently sound asleep, breathing evenly and steadily.

Daphnae sat up hugging her knees in the arms, looked at the mithios in the dark. From the first time she laid eyes on the other woman, she felt a strong physical desire, it almost burning to a flame now. Daphnae closed her eyes and tried to steady her breath: all her sisters had gone autumn hunting at this time, she and the mithios were left alone in the temple, her sisters would not know, no one would ever know, just as if nothing could ever happen.

The mithios immediately opened her eyes vigilantly as Daphnae lay beside her, but when she saw Daphnae's naked form, her jaw dropped in surprise and her mouth expanded into an O-ring. Without additional words, Daphnae's lips pressed tightly to the mithios’ lips, and she was thrilled to find that the other woman's tongue responded welcomingly to her.

"Take me... eagle bearer... " she said breathlessly between the  passionate kisses, the other woman,  with a too familiar cooky  smile on her lips, obliged to her requirement silently.

Daphnae felt the strong and muscular body pressing over her, those calloused and powerful hands kneading her breasts, hot breaths and frantic kisses on her earlobes then her tits, and finally, two long and agile fingers were entering her and moving in her rhythmically. She felt herself was tightening with each thrust, until a spasm from the deepest part of her body spreading like surging waves.

Everything was as beautiful and blazing as she imagined, but what she didn't expect was Kassandra's  mouth. When the other woman’s tongue licked and  lips  sucked her clit, she  was confident that she  was in Elysium, and fucked by  Artemis the goddess.

Shortly afterwards, as Daphnae lay in the arms of  the mithios, calming her heart beats and breathing, a strange, brand-new feeling gradually rose from her  chest, warm, safe,  and being  protected, a spiritual attachment beyond the physical desire. Daphnae was almost frightened by this new found emotion.

As if seeking for comfort, she rubbed her nose against the curve of the mithios' neck, then watched the other woman snorted with eyes closed, a smile rising from the corners of her mouth. Daphnae stroked the other woman’s braid again, placing a hand over the bandaged stomach, sighed, "there's going to be a hideous scar on these beautiful abs."

The miothios chuckled." I think most women like my scars."

"I like the scars with stories I don't know,  for instance,  this one ?" Daphnae's fingers ran along  the  mithios' right shoulder to  the  clavicle,  tracing a long, prominent scar. The mithios'  torso  trembled slightly, as if could still feel the pain.

"Kephallonia, when I was  fifteen." She said dryly.

Daphnae sensed that it was a past that  the other woman didn't want to recall. She didn't pursue,instead, stroking on the  three parallel scars on  the mithios’ left arm, which were almost  closed in circles.

"And  these?"

"The same."

Daphnae was a little surprised, and  her hand moved to the right side of  the other woman’sribs. "So this one?"

"The same."

Daphnae finally couldn't  remain silence. "You got all your signature scars when you were fifteen? Is  that coming-of-age ceremony or what? "

"No, well, it could be. An ‘old friend’ hired a mithios to kill me when I was fifteen, I barely escaped by killing that mithios with my last strength. That should be the first person I killed...to be precisely, the first person I killed on purpose. So if you call this a coming-of-age ceremony,” the other woman said thoughtfully, "I think I won’t object."

"Hunted by a mithios when you were only fifteen?By the gods,  to  recover from  such injuries must be  really painful.  Was there anyone  taking care of you? A pretty girl, may be?" Daphnae said jokingly, so she  was surpised that  the  mithios answered quite honestly.

"Yes. She was the same age as me, and she was beautiful.”

"Well, yes?  where is she now? Is  she  on your  ship? ” Daphnae couldn’t conceal the jealousy in her voice.

"No,  she left, because I left,  I  never saw her  again even before those wounds turned into scars. " The other woman’s voice was suddenly too low to be heard.

A heart broken mithois with a tragic love story. Daphnae felt her heart strings were tugged, so she put her arms around the other woman’s neck and planted a soft kiss at the corner of her eyebrow.  


"Gods leads us in miraculous ways, trust me, you will see her again."

Upon those words , Daphnae was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of sadness. She had  already  told the mithios  the whereabouts of seven other legendary animals. Could she eventually become the one chosen by  Atermis?

As long as Daphnae could remember, no one had completed all the tasks. When she was a child, she had heard the tales of two or three mighty warriors who had managed to retrieve several pelts, but none of them successfully got all of them, and they were never heard from again. Maybe Kassandra, like the others, will disappear from her life. This is not the best ending, but it may also not be the worst. From the moment they met, there was no happy ending for sure. Now, she couldn’t even care less about the ending. 

I’ll be glad to leave my sisters to someone...I could love.

Watching the mithios fall fast asleep, Daphnae smiled. She had enough time to worry about the future that may never come. Perhaps, as the mithios said, "we could all be dead tomorrow." the most important is always today, the present, and this moment. Just like the other woman within her reach, and the warmth, pleasure and sense of security she had brought. 

The dawn was already  looming on the horizon, Daphnae buried her head in Kassandra's arms, listening to the steady heartbeat, before she was even aware, sinking the peaceful sleep she never had before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know, this is next to ‘smut without plot’🤣. I’m changing POV as my time travel machine, to show the time spans between the teenage Kassandra and the grownup one, hope that works!


	7. Kyra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A time travel Kyssandra chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, it has been a long time, just want you to know I’m not abandoning this and will give it a proper (maybe) ending :)

Kyra didn't see that arrow coming.

The rebels were on the beach, cleaning up the last remnants of Podarkes. Victory was close at hand, especially when Kassandra's spear piercing through Podarkes' chest. Kyra's heart seemed to stop for a moment, he was her last blood relation in the world, her pater. At least, he ended up fighting like a real warrior.

At the moment of Podarkes' fall, the defeated remnant Athenia soldiers began to flee. Kyra was waving to Praxos, indicating that he should gather the rebel forces on battlefield and prepare to leave. There was no need to pursue the rabble. All of a sudden, Kyra heard a sharp cry, "Kyra! watch out!"

Before Kyra realized what was going on, Kassandra's body banged on her with such force that knocked her down on her back. Then she was shocked to see Kassandra's knitted brows, an arrow was sticking from her back. Undoubtedly, the arrow was aiming for her.

“Kassandra！” She instantly stood up and rushed to hold Kassandra before she fell to her knees.

The feathers of the arrow were dyed black. From her experience in dealing with Podarkes for so many years, this could only mean the arrow was poisoned.

Kassandra was panting heavily in her arms, and quickly fall into half-consciousness, which confirmed her speculation.

"Come on! Get a healer! Quickly!" Kyra yelled, slowly putting Kassandra down while still held her in arms. "Shh..." She softly stroked her face and silently whispered, "hold on, you'll be Okay, Kassandra, please..."

Kissing Kassandra's sweating forehead, Kyra didn't notice the eyes casting on her back, from a figure in the red Spartan cape, the eyes burning with shock, jealousy, and then anger.

——————

Hearing Kassandra coughed twice, Kyra leaned down looking at her with close inspection. Kassandra opened her eyes and looked back at her blankly. "Did I just pass out?"

Kyra pushed away a strand of scattered hair from Kassandra's forehead, and pressed her down while she was about to sit up. "The arrow you were taken for me was a poison one. Fortunately, our healer arrived in time with the antidote..."

“Kassandra, "Kyra's voice suddenly hardened.

“Huh?”

"Don't be a hero, I don't want to watch you die."

"And I don't want to watch you die, besides, I won't die that easily, it's just an arrow..." Kassandra blinked.

Neither of them spoke again. Kyra looked up at the stars in the dark sky, began to feel awkward by the silences.

Kassandra obviously was more uneasy with this silence. Kyra heard her coughed again. "Why we are still on the beach, what about the others? "

"The healer said it would be better for you to stay where you were. Then I told all others to leave, prepare a celebration for the victory...”

“Unless..." A playful smile appeared at the corner of Kyra's mouth. "Is there anyone else you want to see right now?"

"All the people I want to see on the whole silver islands, is right in front of me." Kassandra raised one eyebrow, looked at Kyra with her clear amber eyes, then reached out for her hand, their fingers intertwined naturally.

"I want you, Kassandra, under the stars." Kyra clearly remembered the night, three days ago on this beach, perhaps was the most memorable night in her life. She suddenly blushed, heart beat faster, some secret parts of her body were wakening.

Almost instinctively, she was approaching Kassandra and closed the distance between their bodies, she was drawn to her like a moth to the flame, their lips were almost touching, like two magnets attracted to one another.

A campfire suddenly lit up the sky, from the cliff over the beach, a burst of cheers and laughters resounded through the air.

Kyra moved her lips away dream-like. "I…I’m sorry, you should rest now. "

Though her heart couldn't help smiling at Kassandra's unconcealed disappointment, her face remained nature. She didn't want to act like a horny slut at this point, even this might be what they both wanted at the moment. Podarkes has already fallen into the eternal fire of Tartarus. Mykonos is free from tyranny from now on, they have all the time in the world, so why rush?

"It seems the celebration has begun, I think you should go now, or they will come and find their leader here." Kassandra glanced at the campfire above the cliff.

Kyra was reluctant to leave, but she also knew it was her duty. "Are you all right? Do you need me to call the healer again?” She didn’t want Kassandra to be left alone.

"I'm fine..." A soft cough, "I only need stay here for a while, for the dizziness of the medicine effect to wear off, and to recover some strength." Kassandra stretched her arms, with the obvious intention of showing off her biceps, "I'll find you later."

——————

Kyra couldn’t explain her anxiety. Around the campfire, those people who followed her for so many years was laughing so freely for the first time. Praxos had drank too much, and was loudly challenging the Spartan soldiers sitting around the campfire to wrestle with him. Nevertheless, the Spartans, famous for combating skills, were held back by Praxos’ size, they were laughing and pushing each other, but no one rose up to the challenge.

Artemis, please bless there will be no war on Mykonos ever again. Kyra looked at the cheerful drunken figures around the campfire, closed her eyes and made a wish in silence.

When she opened her eyes, she suddenly realized why she was anxious: Where’s Theletas? She just realized she hadn’t seen him since this morning, she almost had forgotten him completely.

Suddenly, Kyra shivered beside the campfire, she felt a chill came down her spine. In the afternoon, when she saw Kassandra hit by the arrow, her reactions of openly showing affection were undoubtedly inappropriate. At that time, Theletas should also be on the beach. But it never came to her to consider what he would think…until now. So where is he now? His men were all sitting around the campfire celebrating with the rebels. Where on earth would he go? And Kassandra said she would find her, now it's almost midnight. Where is she?

Kyra quietly left the campfire and trotted down the narrow pass towards the beach. On her forehead, a vein was pulsating fast, foretelling something bad was going to happen. She didn't tell Theletas what happened between her and Kassandra.

Kassandra was right, she should tell him, for Spartans their reputations were even more important than their lives, being cheated was indeed more outrageous than being refused. But it had only been three days since that night, she wasn’t prepared, what's more, she needed Theletas and his men to join the rebels to give Podarkes the final blow. If she broke up with him at this point, the rebels may lose all the advantages they had accumulated, Mykonos may never be free again…

“You stole my Kyra! My glory!” A hoarse roar came from afar, Kyra's knees suddenly buckled and almost tripped. The worst thing had happened, Theletas went to the beach to find Kassandra, for a duel?

Kyra finally stumbled her way to the beach, she saw two figures were fighting near the end of the beach, Theletas was back to her, shouting, waving the spear furiously like a madman, while Kassandra on the opposite side was struggling to defense, she also said something, but her voice was far lower than Theletas, Kyra could not hear what she was saying.

"Thelelas...no..." She wanted to shout, but her voice was blocked by something in her throat. For a moment, she was frozen and didn't know what to do next. Should she rush forward to separate them? Would they even listen to her? After all, she was the culprit for this.

When Thelelas attacked again, Kassandra, who had almost retreated to the seawater, slipped. The edge of the spear cut through her left shoulder; blood gushing out immediately. Theretlas took a step forward, kicked Kassandra's right hand, and her sword flew out of her grip, tip down inserting into the sand beside her.

“I’ve had enough, Theletas, you are mad. The glory is mine, and Kyra isn’t yours to claim.”

Kyra finally heard Kassandra's voice, firm and clear, there was no agitation in her voice, only calm.

Theretlas hysterically roared, then raised his spear again, to stabbed Kassandra with all of his strengths. But the anger had made his movements hasty and stiff. It had given Kassandra enough time to roll over to one side to avoid his attack, at the same time, she stretched out her leg and kicked Thelelas' ankle, he immediately fell face down on the beach. Kassandra rolled over on top of him, drew out of her broken spear, knees on his waist and elbows on the back of his neck.

“Stop, Theletlas!” Kassandra growled, "the game is over."

Just when Kyra breathed a sigh of relief, the next scene happened would forever haunt her by nightmares: Thelelas was wriggling like a shark stranded on the land, then he grabbed up a handful of sand and threw to Kassandra's face. Kassandra backed off to dodge immediately, and removed her knees and elbows pressing on Thelelas’ back. Breaking free, Thelelas turned around with a rough jolt and tried to lift up his body, then a terrifying thing happened: his chest bumped into the spear in Kassandra's hand, with such violent force that the head of the spear disappeared into his chest.

Kyra covered her mouth, but it was useless to hold back the sound of a terrifying screaming.

Kassandra immediately stood up, stepped back, and seemed to be stunned, then she looked in Kyra’s direction, and finally saw her, or merely heard her. She opened her mouth, seemed to be calling Kyra's name, but did not make any sound.

Kyra felt like a puppet being led by an invisible rope, taking one step after another to that direction. Thelelas was lying on the ground motionless, and the crimson blood was gurgling into the sand under him.

Kyra fell down to her knees beside Thelelas. His eyes were still open, but only hollowness inside. Did she ever love him? Even now she still didn’t know, all she knew was that he shouldn't die.

"You bullheaded..." Kyra’s lips were trembling. She wanted to reach out and close his eyes, but she was too afraid to look at those empty eyes. She shut her own eyes hard, but those empty eyes were still in front of her, she screamed, and the sound she heard wasn’t like her own.

"Kyra... I..." Kassandra's voice came from behind. She slowly looked back and saw Kassandra looking at her helplessly. She seemed to want to get closer, but something in Kyra's eyes had obviously scared her, "I... I…am... Sorry..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, too. Kassandra." Kyra heard the voice that didn't seem to be her own again, cold, cruel, unapproachable.

She stood up, led by the invisible rope again, began to walk back to the camp on the cliff, this time, she walked with rapid steps. The most important thing now is to call Praxos in and get rid of the mess on the beach as soon as possible, before the those drunken Spartans wake up.

The beach, the injured misthios, she suddenly felt like been stabbed in the heart, it was a terrible mistake from the beginning, so she didn’t even look back, she couldn’t afford to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is another POV changing canon rewrite~ To make Kassandra more Kassandra like
> 
> PS: much thanks to fishbone, I have borrowed the poison arrow from her work ‘ Until we meet again’ :)


	8. Arion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kassandra meets someone unexpectedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I split the original chapter, so one more chapter to go.

Kassandra didn't think things could get even worse.

The arrow only grazed the doe’s neck. It jumped up in panic and ran off.

As she pulled the Daughters of Artemis bow, the string of it suddenly broke, along with the suture on her left shoulder. So, all of sudden, those two names she had fight so hard to forget, occupied all of her mind again: the bow once belonged to Daphnae, while the wound on her shoulder reminded her of Kyra.

It had been five days since Adrestia left Mykonos. When Kassandra stumbled back to the ship that night, bleeding from new wounds, she ordered the crew to set sail immediately without giving a destination. All of the crew, including Barnabas, was astounded, not only because they saw their commander covered with blood, but also because Kassandra looked so gloomy and deflated, unlike her usual self. Even the most junior crew on the ship could see: their commander was wounded more emotionally than physically.

For the next few days, Kassandra locked herself up in the cabin under deck. When Adrestia arrived the largest port near Arkadia, Kassandra reappeared on the deck with two huge dark circles below her eyes. In a hoarse voice, she told the crew that they could all go ashore and enjoy their lives for the next 15 days, and herself would go hunting, alone.

"Malaka!" Kassandra cursed, threw the broken bow aside, and turned her head to check the wound on the left shoulder. Odessa's suture work was a piece of shit. The crooked stitches were splitting more than a half, and blood was seeping out from the wound again.

She picked up the bow back from the ground and whistled. Phobos trotted slowly to her and snorted loudly, seemed very unhappy of been summoned so soon.

Fine, things couldn’t be any better. Kassandra thought bitterly. Now she needed to repair the bow, get the wound sutured and bandaged again, and to appease a grumbling horse.

It was one really, really bad day.

Finally got on Phobos’ back, Kassandra urged it to trot towards the edge of the forest. Before long, a small farm came into view. She originally wanted to move on, as she didn’t expect to get any help from a remote farm like this. However, a sudden burst of singing surprised her - it was a popular folk song in Kephallonia, how could someone came so far from Kephallonia to Sparta controlled Arkadia?

Kassandra jumped off Phobos and followed the singing to the front of a farm house. A young woman, with her back to her, was humming and airing grain in the yard. The song was so familiar that Kassandra couldn't help humming along.

Shocked by the voice behind her, the woman abruptly turned back, looked dumbfounded when she saw Kassandra. When Kassandra saw the woman's face clearly, her gaped at her with mouth wide open...

“A...A...Anais?”

“K...Ka...Kassandra?”

A sound of the fluttering wings suddenly came from above, a black dot quickly turning into a large bird - Ikaros gracefully landed on Kassandra's right shoulder with a squawk. The bird always mysteriously knew the right time to make an appearance.

Anais was the first to recover from the shock, "Ah, the eagle bearer, so that legendary misthios is really you? It is said that she killed all eight legendary animals of daughters of Artemis, and helped the rebels of Mykonos to fight against the Athenian tyranny? "

"Er…" Kassandra coughed. She didn't expect her greatest heroic achievements which had spread to a remote farm in Arkadia, would be the last two deeds she wanted to remember.

"It's all in the past, no need to mention it." She waved her hand as if she didn't care, but her face turned red. "You know Ikaros, and yes, the legendary Eagle Bearer, is right in front of you." On hearing his name, Ikaros looked at Kassandra, then Anais, eyes darting back and forth, and chirped proudly.

"It's all in the past?" a sly smile appeared on Anais’ lips. “But I still remembered how you dumped me on Kephallonia, by left me a badly written farewell letter.”

By the gods, Kassandra's face was burning bright red, she almost wanted to turn back and leave. Even after so many years, Anais still knew perfectly well how to mercilessly making fun of her. Among all the great endowments of the eagle bearer, literary talent was definitely not one of them.

“I...I’m sorr...”

"Oh, Kassandra, stop apologizing. It's been so many years." Anais interrupted her with a smile, then added sincerely, "Besides, Hector told me later, I knew you did that for my benefit."

Kassandra was speechless. Before her eyes stood Anais, her first love and first cut, her sweetest and also most painful memories in Kephallonia. Anais had barely changed at all. Her sandy long hair was tied back loosely in a bun, and her bright brown eyes still seemed to be able to reach into Kassandra's heart.

Fifteen years, how many days? Kassandra's eyes began to drift from Anais's eyes to his lips, pinkish, slightly pouted, inviting lips.

"It's hard to imagine it has been fifteen years since I last saw you, and you are still as beautiful and charming as you were 15."

Anais flushed noticeably. "Kassandra, you've not only grown taller and bulkier, but also got silver tongue that match with you build."

Kassandra decided to be bolder. "I wouldn’t deny that, but you may interested in testing it yourself? How about one kiss for a day from the day we parted?"

The pink on Anais's face turned to crimson. She lowered her eyes with a smirked, "Indeed, the legendary eagle bearer’s reputation among women is well deserved..."

“So, what kind of reputation is that?” Kassandra wouldn’t backdown so easily, even though she started cursing in the back of her mind. How can all the stories about her spread in such a messy way? When she got back to Adestria, she would make sure to ask Barnabas.

Anais didn’t answer, instead, her voice changed to a hesitating tone, "Kassandra, listen, I need to tell you something first... "

"What..." Kassandra was about to ask when she suddenly saw a little boy coming out of nowhere, pulling Anais’ chiton from behind.

"Mater, who is she, and why is a chicken standing on her shoulder?"

A chicken? Kassandra glanced at Ikaros. He raised his head and chirped scandalously, no one ever called him like that…But…wait…what? Mater?

Kassandra looked at Anais rubbing the little boy's head, "Arion, this is Kassandra. She was a friend of mater when we were little. That is an eagle standing on her shoulder, not a chicken."

Kassandra stiffened a little. Of course, of course. It had been fifteen years. Isn't that normal for Anais to get married and have a child?

She crouched down and politely held out her hand to the little boy. "Hey Arion, this is Kassandra, and this is my friend Ikaros. You can play with him if you want. Your mater and I were both friends with him when we were kids."

Ikaros, however, was not in a cooperative mood. He suddenly took off from Kassandra's shoulder and landed on a tree nearby.

The little boy was startled, he stepped back, hiding behind Anais, looked at Kassandra, then at Ikaros, wriggled nervously, and finally said, "Mater, I don’t want play with that eagle, can I go play with Sophia near the river?"

"Go ahead, don’t go too far away, and get back before dark."

Kassandra felt a excited tone in Anais' voice, made this sounds like a welcoming opportunity.

Just like his sthealthly coming, Arion quickly disappeared without any trace. Kassandra sighed and stood up, that opened the wound on her shoulder again, she hissed in pain.

"Let me have a look." Before Kassandra could explain, Anais came closer and looked below her cape. The bandage on her left shoulder was tinted red. Anais unfastened the bandage, revealed the crooked stitches. Upon seeing that, she couldn't help commenting: "Who did this for you must really hated you. "

Kassandra was a little stunned, "It can’t be? She's a lieutenant on my ship.

"So, it’s a She. Now I'm not surprised. "

Kassandra choked. Odessa did warm her bed on the ship occasionally, but it didn’t mean they were in a relationship, in fact, they both agreed that no strings attached to this mutually beneficial practice, and Odessa seemed pretty Okay with that…or...did she really?

Seeing Anais looking at her with a sarcastic smile, Kassandra realized that she had been teased again.

"Now come to my room, let me help you to get rid of that." Anais said nonchalantly."It just came to me you had the same injury when you dumped me 15 years ago."

Kassandra knew she’d better keep quiet this time.

Anais's room was spare and neat, simply furnished. Sitting on the bed, Kassandra grunted with a piece of cloth in her mouth when Anais cleaning up and stitching the wound, while listening to Anais recounted her story over the years.

When studied in Lakonia medical school, Anais had met with Arion's father, they got married several years later and had Arion. After the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, Arion's father and Hector were both recruited into the Spartan army. Then they were never heard from again. Three years ago, someone finally brought back the news that Arion's father had died in battle, but Hector was still missing. After that, Anais moved to Arkadia with Arion and bought a small farm with her savings. She had quitted practicing medicine, just wanted to be self-sufficient and stay away from the war.

Kassandra's heart was filled with the uncertainty of fate, then the already extinguished fire started to burn again - So, Anais is single now.

Anais hummed contentedly behind her, "you are good to go, misthios."

Kassandra lowered her head and saw the suture that Anias had made. It was neat and delicate, after healing, there should be only a unnoticeable line. She almost rejoiced that Odessa's ugly suture automatically gave up this morning. Now she wouldn’t have another crooked scar on the left shoulder next to her trademark scar, that would be aesthetically unacceptable.

Suddenly, she realized that Anais's hand was still on her shoulder, and then moved to her bare back, gently stroking, "you've really got a lot of scars these years, and muscles... "

A cocky smile appeared at the corner of Kassandra's mouth, she had almost forgot the charm of her body could do to women.

Obviously, Anais, is no exception.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I deleted all the boring tasks in the game when I wrote this, and went straight to the point - in the next chapter :) 
> 
> So what do you expect to happen next? 😉


End file.
